


Et Framboise

by Taciturn



Category: Free!
Genre: Bakery/pastry shop AU, Fluffy Romance, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-01-25 23:30:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1666469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taciturn/pseuds/Taciturn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikoshiba hires a new hand at his new shop and learns the difference between baking breads and pastry making.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Puff Pastry

Mikoshiba Seijuurou sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. His gold eyes scanned the applications at his table again. None of the people he interviewed earlier had impressed him in the right way. All of them had gone on a bragging spree of where they had been, what they were capable of and what they could do for his business. After tuning the fourth applicant out when he started to boast of his achievements in Germany or some other international place with a competition where he placed some ranking among the best of his age group and so on and so forth. Seijuurou politely had to stop him after a solid seven minutes of rambling so that his ears could have some rest from that God awful tone of his. 

"Any luck?" Niitori asked, peering over his manager's shoulder. "I don't really like the last one... Too loud." The silver haired boy said, scrunching up his nose a bit. 

"I know, I know." Seijuurou grumbled and leaned back in his chair. "I need a pâtissier, not a teenage braggart that's won three thousand awards and can't work with people." He redhead sighed and went back to flipping through the pages upon pages of applicants. "None of them so far are what we're looking for." 

"Well, you still have a few more to go for today, right?" Niitori asked, setting down a cup of coffee on the table. Seijuuro looked up at his young employee with a raised eyebrow. "Figured you'd need it. You don't look like you've had a whole lot of sleep." He smiled.

"You could tell?" 

"Everyone can. You're always the one that says 'The bread can feel if you're not feeling well.' and "If you work while you're feeling bad, the bread won't rise to its full potential.' or stuff like 'When you're angry the dough can feel it and it gets depressed.' I never thought I'd see the day when that happened. I mean, you actually burned the sticky buns and almost all of the melon breads, if Matsuouka-San hadn't smelled--"

"I get it, I get it." Seijuurou interrupted, not wanting to hear any more of his own words thrown at him. "I'll drink the damned coffee and go home early, will that make you happy?" 

Niitori flinched a bit at the rather aggressive tone his manager had taken. However it was true, ever since their last pâtissier left, their goods had been rather lacking. As great as Mikoshiba was at baking breads, pastries were just another world he could not figure out. Something about hating to be exact or something.

Seijuurou looked at the flustered employee and his face relaxed a bit after realizing what he had just done. He heaved a deep sigh and tried his best go smile for the young one. "Sorry. I guess I'm more tired than I thought I was." He admitted. 

"Do you want another coffee?" Niitori suggested. 

"Nah, I've got one more interview to go through and I don't need to look like I have a caffeine addiction to whoever is coming in. Don't want to scare them off that much, now do we?" He chuckled. "Now, get back to work." 

"Yessir!" Niitori saluted and marched back to his station behind the counter. 

Seijuurou looked over at the clock on the wall and timed the next interview. He had a good five or six minutes before he was going to be late and any chances this guy had of getting the job would be shot to hell and back. Seijuurou sipped his coffee and looked over the application again. 

Of all them, this one was the shortest. Amateur almost. There wasn't a giant list or essay of what he had done. In fact, this guy was self taught. That in itself could be a good sign or a bad one, depending on how he worked. The redhead's eyes drifted up towards the name of the applicant. "Makoto" He mumbled to himself before taking another deep swig of black coffee. "Well, it'll be nice to have a girl working here, I guess. Hope she's cute..." 

Makoto ended up being definitely cute. She though? Not a chance in hell. 

Makoto turned out to be at least five foot ten, broad shouldered and definitely male. A part of Seijuurou sank a bit, his hopes of having a cute girl in his kitchens dashed away. However, that sinking feeling left quickly. He still ran a business and he definitely needed help. Interview first, eye candy later. He had entered the shop, all droopy-eyed and slightly bewildered. At first Seijuurou swore he was a customer, though by his body language and how he was dressed, he quickly deduced who he was. The redhead beckoned the tall man over to his corner of the shop and gestured at the seat. "Makoto, I assume?"

"A-Ah, yes!" Makoto answered, bowing slightly before sitting down. "Are you, Mikoshiba-San?" 

"The one and only." Seijuurou answered, leaning back and taking a good look at the man before him. Good appearance, check. Good manners, check. Now, about that resume of his. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Tachibana Makoto." The brunette held out his hand for a shake and Mikoshiba eagerly took it, testing the strength of his grip.

Firm, solid handshake, always a good sign. 

Seijuurou cleared his throat after a good shake and sat back at his chair and lazily thumbed through the pages of Makoto's resume. "So." He started, getting straight to business. "Why'd you apply here?"

"W-well, I just moved to this area." Makoto explained. "I need a job and I've always enjoyed baking and making pastries."

"You do understand that this establishment is looking for a pastry chef with experience, right?" Seijuurou raised an eyebrow and looked at Makoto, noticing just how intensely green those eyes were. Huh, attractive. He thought absently before he went back to more pressing matters. "I'm looking for pâtissier, not an amateur who makes things in his mom's kitchen every other weekend." 

"I know what I'm doing." The brunette said bluntly, his brows knitted themselves together slightly and he stared straight at Seijuurou. "I don't have proper training, but I know what I'm doing. You won't regret it if you hire me." 

"Oh? And what makes you think that?" Seijuurou reached over to his cup and swirled the cold dregs of his coffee before downing the rest of it. His eyes never left the brunette, assessing the whole situation. The gears in his brain were ticking, figuring out ways to test if this guy actually knew his stuff or if he was just bluffing to get a job. "Give me ganache ratios." 

"Equal parts hot cream and chocolate." Makoto replied promptly." 

"Not bad. Do you know how to make puff pastry?" 

"I'm offended that you think I can't." the brunette huffed and cross his arms across his chest. 

Seijuurou looked at this gesture and noticed the slight glint of challenge in his eyes. He couldn't help but let out a loud, barking laugh, causing Niitori across the room to squeak and nearly drop an order of tea. It took the redhead a good moment to calm himself down. "You've got spunk, kid. I like that." 

The hard gaze Makoto had didn't leave. "You don't believe me. I can do it. I can work here. I'm as good as any of the other people who've spent years at a culinary instutute! It wasn't my fault I couldn't afford to go to a school like that. What's wrong with learning and practicing from a book bought off the shelves of a book store? I don't have the same credentials but I at least have the passion to work with something I like for once." 

He hadn't expected the seemingly quiet and composed young man before him to actually raise his voice and go off like that. "I'm guessing other places turned you down?" He asked after a moment of silence between the two. He eyed the brunette's expression which change from frustration to something akin to witnessing a kicked puppy. Seijuurou immediately felt bad bringing it up. However business was business and if this guy was going to get so worked up during and interview, then he wasn't sure the kitchen was the right place for him. 

"I... Yeah." Makoto's voice was barely above a whisper as he hung his head and looked at his hands in his lap. "I... I just really thought that there would be a place that would give me a chance..." 

The redhead heaved a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I want to give you a chance kid, but I don't know if that kind of outburst is really ah... professional." 

Green eyes glanced up and he could see tears well up in the young man's eyes. 

_Shit, Sei do something. People aren't supposed to get this depressed over not getting a job._

"If... if I promise that will never happen...."

"Can you wake up and get here at 4 AM on a daily basis and deal with being on your feet for long hours?"

"Y-yes!" Hope started to creep back into Makoto's eyes at that question.

"Can you handle high stress situations? Like kitchen fires and hard to handle customer?" 

"I worked in fast food and retail for at least four years of my life, that's not a problem" Makoto confirmed with a confident nod.  
 _Oh good, then he knows what 'overworked and underpaid' means._

"How much are you looking at being paid?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Here was the trick, depending on how this man answered Seijuurou, it would be the deciding factor in hiring this young man. Out of all the applicants Makoto stuck out the most with his passion to actually make things for people. He hadn't said anything about how much better he was than anyone, he simply stated he could hold his place. If he really said he was as good as he was, Seijuurou might actually have a pleasant pâtissier in his shop. He didn't need to think about the drama the last one had caused. 

"It's negotiable." Makoto answered promptly. 

"Negotiable?" The redhead raised an eyebrow and a small smile played at his lips. _Good answer, Tachibana._

"Yes, negotiable." 

Seijuurou's small smile outright broke into a grin. "Alright then, hit me with your best shot. How much do you want to get paid here?"  
Makoto bit his lower lip and looked at his hands in his lap again for a brief moment before answering. "I'd like to get paid at the very least, above minimum wage." 

The manager let out a loud laugh which reverberated through the small bakery. "You'll get paid at least twelve an hour at start. Depending on how you do, we see about giving raises and of course you get your fair share of tips at the end of the night." He stated jovially. "I don't believe in paying that little for good work. How's that sound?"

He watched with glee as droopy green eyes widened and long fingers covered a gaping mouth. "I... Uh... wow, that's amazing!" 

"Mmhmm." Seijuurou leaned back again in his chair and looked at the man at the other side of the table. "Here's what I'm going to do." He said, tracing the lip of his now empty cup of coffee. "Here's what I'm willing to do, for you. We'll give you a trial run for two weeks."

"T-trial run?" Makoto tilted his head to the side in confusion. Cute.

"Yup. You work here for two weeks, we'll see how you work with the others and the customers. We'll check the quality of the goods and it'll give you some time to get used to working here. After two weeks we'll give you and evaluation and then we hire you with all the paper work. Until then, it'll be two weeks of being paid under the table, cash every night." 

"Is this what you do for all your employees?" 

"I'm doing it for you because you asked for a chance. So tell me, can you make it here Wednesday at 4AM?" 

"Of course!" 

Those bright green eyes filled with energy gave Seijuurou the feeling he was making the right choice. 

"Oy, Niitori! If anyone else asks about an interview, tell 'em I already found someone!" he shouted behind him as he started packing to leave early that day, a giant grin refusing to leave his face.


	2. Choux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako's a nervous wreck and Seijuurou's kind of forgetful sometimes.

What had Makoto expected when he first got there at the ass crack of dawn? For all the psyching out he did the two days prior to this first day, he half expected Mikoshiba to mug him, take his belongings and throw him in ditch somewhere. The fact of the matter was, 4AM was not a time to be wandering around. Makoto had heard of too many news stories from his friend Nagisa to know that it was prime time for murders. A shudder ran down his spine as he continued to make his way back to the bakery. Every bit of him was hyper aware of his surroundings, and he found it difficult to not jump out at any sort of sudden movements. By the time he made it to the bakery, he was a mess of nerves and the shakes. Not like he wasn't before from the sheer anxiety of starting his new job.

This was not the best way to start his new job.

_Well, it can't get any worse than this, right?_

The brunette grasped the door handle and gave it a good tug only to have the door stay firmly locked. Full panic mode set in; and Makoto looked around frantically, trying to find the best way to calmly rectify the situation he was in. He pulled on the door once again to see if he hadn't done it properly the first time. Nope, still locked tight. There was definitely a light on in the back of the store, even if the front was pitch black. There had to be someone else in there, right?

"Uh... Hello?" he tried calling through the crack of the door.

No answer.

 _Am I going to die here?_ he thought desperately as he tried the door once again in the hopes of it working on the third time.

At this point, every horrible murder plot ran through his head; and his shaking hands grasped the door handle as if his life depended on it and rattled it in hopes of getting _some_ sort of attention. Someone, _anyone_ could be behind him, watching him as he struggled; and they could be waiting for the right moment to mug him. Then he would be another headline in the news.

"Didn't, boss tell you to use the back door?"

His savior came with red hair and sharpened teeth.

"Please don't kill me!" Mako screeched, covering his face and cowering against the door of the bakery. "Just take my money!"

"Eh? Dude, chill out, I work here too."

Makoto needed a moment to actually breathe and gain his composure. "I uh... I'm supposed to start my first day here," he explained fiddling with his fingernails. "I uh... don't remember Mikoshiba-san saying anything about going through the back door."

His knight in red hair and blue jeans let out a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Moron..." he muttered before taking off to the left. "Follow me."

The brunette quickly got up from his corner at the door and tailed the redhead towards the back where the door was swung wide open and the smell of freshly baked bread wafted out from within. "We don't open the front doors until eight," he explained. "If you're going to get in, you go in through here."

"O-Okay!"

The kitchen was warm and well lit, a welcoming sight to Makoto's frazzled nerves. The smell of bread and melted butter comforted Makoto further, and he felt himself breathing normally again. "Boss! You forgot to tell the fresh meat to come through the back. Found him screaming bloody murder at the front door," the redhead scolded as he strode and took an apron off the back wall.

"Oh... yeah, about that...." Mikoshiba's voice came from some dark corner in the kitchen and he emerged with a giant goofy grin on his face. "My bad," he admitted. "Won't happen again, Rin."

Rin clicked his teeth and went off towards the front. "I'm gonna take inventory," he said, taking a clipboard and a pen with him.

"You have fun with that," Seijuuro replied, bent over a large mixer and eying the contents within. He flipped a switch at the side of the machine which sent it whirring to life. After that was all done, he took his time to look at Makoto, hands on his hips. "Tachibana! Glad you could make it in on time!" he greeted, the goofy grin never leaving his face. "Thought you'd get scared off from me asking you to get here so early."

Makoto let out a nervous laugh and suddenly found a spatula extremely interesting. "I well, uh, I've always been told that you have to be a certain type of insane to want to bake. I mean, there's only a few people who are willing to get up so early to make stuff from scratch and all that. But I think it's fun though, so getting up early's just another part of the process."

_Keep on giving good answers like that and you'll have the job in three days, Tachibana._

"That's great, you got your whites with you?" Seijuurou asked, looking the brunette up and down and seeing a pair of worn black slacks and a comfortable shirt.

"W-whites?" Makoto stuttered in reply.

"Ahh... never mind that, you can just borrow for now I guess." Seijuurou shoved the issue to the side and gestured over to the back wall where several white coats were hanging from there.  
"If you pass your two weeks, we'll get you one for yourself. Until then, just use one of the ones on the wall there. They should fit you," he said, grabbing one and tossing it to Makoto.

The brunette looked at the stiff white coat in his hands and marveled at it for a bit. _My first real uniform,_ he thought gleefully to himself and threw it around his shoulders, fumbling a bit at the buttons. It fit fine, though it was a bit tight around the shoulders. Nothing he wasn't used to. His frame made it hard to buy clothes that fit properly.

"Looks good on ya, kid," Seijuurou said, slapping Makoto on the back fondly. "Alright, enough chit chat, we've got lots of work to do and we've already wasted enough time. Your station is going to be over there on that side. Everything should be labeled, and your list of things to make by the time the store opens is on that whiteboard there," Seijuurou jabbed a thumb over towards a whiteboard flanked by a refridgerator and a convection oven. "If you need anything, just let me kno-- _Shit on a brick, I forgot I had that mixing,_ " Seijuurou cursed before running off to the mixer and taking care of whatever was in there.

This left Makoto to fend for himself and the exceptionally long laundry list of things to make. Out of the corner of Seijuurou's eye, he could see the color completely drain from Makoto's face. A small part of him felt guilty for throwing him into the fire on the first day; another part of him knew if he couldn't survive these first two weeks, there was no way he would survive the rest of the time working here. That, and it was kind of cute to see him flustered like that. Kind of.

The amount of work seemed insurmountable to Makoto. There was no way he could finish all of this in the three and a half hours he had left. Twenty-five each of three types of Eclairs; chocolate, caramel and coffee, three large tarte tatin and ten smaller ones, twenty layered 'cupcakes', twenty Paris-Brest, fifty macaroons each in seven different flavors; Almond, chocolate, strawberry, pistachio, orange blossom, mango with basil and, raspberry with anise and several other items he couldn't even begin to imagine the pronunciation to. Makoto felt the panic set in, once again seeing he was more than lost as to what to do first.

"Start with the Eclairs and go down the line, they're ordered by how much time they take to bake," Rin whispered and left before Makoto could get a word of gratitude out.

Choux dough was easy enough to make. That would make the basis of the eclairs. Water, butter, flour, eggs and salt. He assumed the fillings would be basic pastry cream with their proper flavors. The caramel and chocolate glazes he could make for the top no problem. Makoto figured a good black brew in the glaze would work well for the coffee flavor. Everything was slowly, piecing itself together; and he felt a calm wash over him. The problem came when Makoto realized he had never baked in such large quantities before. Converting the measurements he knew would take forever. Wasn't there some sort of recipe card around that they used?

A loud, energetic _thump_ snapped Makoto out of his thoughts, and he whipped his head around to see what the noise was all about. Mikoshiba had thrown a mound of dough the size of his torso onto the large stainless steel table in the middle of the kitchen. From there, with his sleeves at his elbows and his hands covered in flour, he began to work at the dough with his hands. There was a presence about him when he rolled, folded and kneaded the dough beneath his palm. It was as if there was no such thing as 'too much' or 'too big' in his books. Makoto watched, entranced for a several precious minutes as Mikoshiba rolled, portioned, shaped and scored the originally large, shapeless lump into baguettes ready to be proofed and baked. This man knew what he was doing, and he was good at it.

 _I could be that good too!_ Makoto thought vigorously and turned back to his task, not wanting Mikoshiba to know he had been dilly dallying.

He wasted no time doing some quick math using what he had in mind and multiplying what he needed. From there it was all auto pilot. He knew what went where and when it should go. Granted, there were a few blunders trying to find ingredients but at the end of twenty minutes, Makoto had a golden, sticky paste being filled by the spatula full into a pastry bag with a round tip. He lined four baking sheets with parchment paper and started to fill them with short, six inch lines of the gooey paste on the sheets. He fitted twenty for each of the pans, totaling in eighty eclairs in case there were some that would get burned or just ended up wrong. Having extras never hurt anyone.

After sliding the pastries in, he set to work on the fillings. A basic custard like cream lightened with whipped cream and flavored accordingly. He had done this before too. Makoto once again calculated out the ratios he needed and set to work on the next layer of his work.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the kitchen, Seijuurou glanced up every now and then from his own work to watch his new recruit. The first day was always going to be the hardest for anyone, but Makoto seemed to be holding up well. A bit slow, considering he had spent a good while floundering for items; but that was to be expected. He worked with tenacity and with passion, which was admirable; though Seijuurou did wonder how long he would last on sheer passion. He was a bit slow, though Seijuurou had predicted that much to happen.

"How's it coming along?" he called out, throwing his last batch of baguettes into the oven and dusting his hands off.

"It's.... coming..." came the tense reply from the brunette.

"Need any help?" he asked, walking over to see what Makoto had accomplished in the forty or so minutes they had been working. When he got to Makoto's station, he let out a low whistle of approval. Choux pastries in the oven, creams and glazes on the stove. At least his shop would have eclairs to sell for the day.

"I'm fine for now." Again, the answer came out rather tense. When Seijuurou originally interviewed him, he thought his personality would have been more demure than this. Perhaps he was wrong. Either that, or he was just really concentrated on what he was doing. Probably the latter. Either way, he definitely found it to be an endearing trait.

"Alright, if you need anything, just let me know," Seijuurou said before heading back to his own station to start on the buns and sweetbreads.

 _How do I explain to him I don't know how to read French?_ Makoto thought in panic as time ticked and the last items on his to-do list came closer and closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note to self: Writing at 4AM is wonderful and dangerous at the same time. Thank your editors. Thank them hard.


	3. Baguette

There were a few things Seijuurou expected when he hired Makoto. One, Sei knew more or less that Makoto wasn't classically trained. As such, he expected to basically take Makoto under his wing and teach him as much as he could. Two, he was more than certain Makoto would not complete everything on that list on his first day. Three, he expected to be asked for some help at some point; however, his new recruit seemed to be set on doing everything on his own. That mentality would need to change quickly if he wanted to stay around. Sei's bakery did not only run on individual talent, it needed team synergy to survive. If Makoto was going to continue being non-accepting of outside help when he clearly struggled, then Seijuurou would have no other choice than to ask him to leave.

What he had not expected was to see Makoto with an expression of desperation as he attempted to decipher the last few things Sei had put on the list. He had done very well with the time constraints, getting almost everything done. The brunette literally powered through all the recipes, patching the descriptions with what he knew and coming up with some rather... _bastardized_ versions of what Seijuurou was used to seeing from his old pastry chef. Whether or not he'd be able to put the "cupcakes" and what was _supposed_ to be a Paris Brest in the display case when the store opened would be determined later.

What mattered now was making sure Makoto didn't have a mental breakdown on his first day of work. Having most of the bread baked off and the last batch in the oven, the redhead wandered over towards where he had Makoto stationed to see how much he had accomplished. Seijuurou let out a low whistle of approval when he saw what was on the workbench. Eclairs: Check. Tarts: Check. Sei assumed the homely circles of pastry filled with cream were what Makoto declared to be his Paris Brest. _Close enough, I guess..._ All of the macarons had been filled and lined up neatly in rows according to color. Seijuurou could only assume that trays of sponge cake soaked in syrup and what looked to be a pot of jelly slowly boiling away on the stove would eventually become cupcakes. _Eventually._

"Need help?" Sei asked, patting Makoto on the back. "Though, it looks like you've got it all covered, right?" he teased.

Seijuurou had not prepared himself for the reaction that followed.

The brunette turned towards him, tears brimming up in his eyes and his bottom lip quivering. He let out a small incoherent squeak of some sort before crumpling the list of things to do in his hands and nodded ever so slightly, eyes wide and looking more towards the ceiling than at Seijuurou to prevent the tears from falling down.

"I... I can't read it," Makoto admitted, tears started to fall as he said this. "I don't know what any of this says." Makoto stood there staring, wide eyed and silently crying, looking up at Seijuurou for an answer, any sort of answer to fix all of this. This wasn't what he had expected when he got on board with this job. It was over his head and it was only the first day. Sei could _feel_ the urge to quit coming from Makoto already.

Seijuurou stood there, stunned for a good while. Here, he had thought he would have good help around for once; and instead, he was greeted with an overly sensitive, overzealous and emotional young man before him who couldn't read French. Seijuurou took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose to offset the oncoming headache. There was going to be _a lot_ of aspirin involved later tonight. "Okay, that's fine. It's your first day, don't expect yourself to know everything."

In all honesty, Sei just wanted to put Mako in a corner, feed him some sweets and wait for him to stop being emotional. However, it was half an hour before opening, and a new employee in tears on his first day was not the thing he needed. Seijuurou sighed, gently rubbed Makoto's back and pried the list from the brunette's hands to see what else he had left to do. "Hmm... two, no, three things left? That's not so bad. Once the store opens, you can work on it after the morning rush finishes."

"But I don't even know _what_ they are, so I can't even start to work on them!" Makoto whined, vehemently wiping tears away. "I've never even been out of the country, let alone to France to know what this stuff is."

"First of all, I didn't say I wasn't going to help you. I already told you that I don't expect you to know everything. Once it settles down, I'll walk you through what you need to know. Secondly, you don't need to go to France to learn French. I can teach you. Now dry up those tears and act like a professional, will you?"

_Way to be a dick, Sei. Well, it's either he toughens up, or he gets out. Business is business._

"Y-you're not going to fire me?" Makoto asked incredulously.

"No, why would I fire you? It's your first day. You have two weeks to prove yourself to me, remember?"

"Oh, right..." The brunette rubbed away what tears he had left and sniffled a bit. He still hiccuped every now and then, though he was putting up the good fight to hide his tears. _Cute._

"Better?" Seijurrou asked, eyebrow raised and arms crossed against his chest. He leaned against the fridge, watching his new recruit to make sure nothing else was going to catch him off guard today. _Though I have to say, I handled that very well. Good job, Sei. Good job._

"Better," Makoto confirmed taking in deep, even breaths. "So, what do we do next?"

"Set up--"

"Boss! You made our new recruit cry already?!" a shrill voice from the front of the store interrupted Sei from finishing his sentence.

"I didn--"

"Rin told me everything!" A silver haired youth stormed into the kitchen, fists at his hips and a frown on his face. "He said you didn't tell him to use the backdoor, and then he told me he heard him crying just now! What are you doing to him? You'll drive him out in the next three hours, and we can't afford to not have him around! You said so yourself! We're understaffed and lacking output because we don't have what we used to when Sousuke was here and the--"

"Niitori, shut _up_ and let me actually explain myself, hm?" Sei interrupted the rambling youth. "It's his first day. He was frustrated, I didn't do anything. I was offering help. That explain everything? Now please go and make sure the place is ready to open. Where the hell did Rin go off to?"

"I've been here all along. I was doing inventory, like I said I would. Today's order day, remember? You need to get more butter and eggs. You're also low on cinnamon and currants." Rin appeared from behind Seijuurou and calmly listed everything off as if Makoto's crying fit had never happened. "You also need more small boxes. Not super necessary right now though it'd be nice. We've got about half a case left."

"Great, anything else you need from the store, mom?" the redhead asked, plucking the clipboard from Rin's hands and looking down at the list.

"Yeah, pick me up a new job, will ya."

"Nah, store's fresh out of those. I just checked yesterday. You'll have to try again next week."

Rin clicked his teeth, though there was definitely a small curl forming at this lips from the banter between the two of them. It was nice to know that Seijuurou kept relations casual enough for this sort of conversation. Whether or not Makoto would survive his trial period to get to do this himself was still up in the air, of course.

"I'm gonna go and wipe windows," Rin announced, turning heel and making his way towards the storefront. "Let's _try_ to have nothing burnt today, okay boss?"

"And let's _try_ to not bite people's heads off when they don't get what they want?" Sei called out to Rin's retreating form. "Honestly, I don't know what to do with these kids half the time..." he muttered before going over towards his ovens and checking on his bread. _Good thing I caught that in time. Else we'd have burnt ciabatta for a day, and Rin'll never let me hear the end of that one._

The scent of coffee beans wafted from the front into the kitchen, and the smell of baked goods and caffeine brought a sort of calm through Makoto. He inhaled deeply and looked back at his station. He still had a good amount of work to do, and none of that was going to get done if he simply stood around. Sei had already assured him he'd help with the remaining things. What he needed to do was assemble and get the goods in the cases before people started to come in.

Seijuurou managed to glance over at Makoto before he went out front to start displaying breads and other viennoiserie he had managed to make earlier. It seemed as though that whole breakdown earlier had been smoothed over. The redhead watched for a moment as long, delicate fingers gently layered cake, jelly, the thinnest layer of Chantilly cream and more cake followed by colored marzipan and candied fruits to garnish into small paper cups with the company logo on it. It wasn't quite what Sei had in mind when he had written down "cupcake," but it would do. Quite frankly, he actually liked this version a bit more than what was normally sold in other shops. If he worked with Mako a bit more, they could probably refine it and actually make it a staple.

He had talent, that much was for sure. It showed in how much he was able to produce in that short amount of time. It definitely wasn't what Seijuurou was expecting this morning. To be honest, half of him expected there to be more whining and less things done. Actually, part of him was surprised he hadn't already quit yet.

At eight twenty-five on the dot, Nitori was writing the daily brew on a chalk board, and Rin was helping Seijuurou put out goods. Makoto finally made it to the front with a baking tray in his arms loaded with goods. "So... where do these go?"

"Display case," Seijuurou grunted, going on tip toe to place the last baguette in place in the most visually appealing way.

Makoto took care to put things where labels were. He did notice that there were a few spaces without labels at all. He assumed they were for the things he hadn't gotten around to making. Makoto still had two trays left in the back to fill the case with. Hopefully the empty spots wouldn't be that noticeable to anyone. When he did finish putting everything in the proper place it only made the empty spaces more prominent. _Well, nothing I can do about it now..._

The first customer walked in at eight forty-six, and Nitori was the first to greet and attend to all her needs. A few more followed just as he was finishing ringing the first customer up. This time, Seijuurou himself catered to their needs; and as more people continued to file in, everyone seemed to put themselves at a station. Makoto found himself hastily grabbing pastries and bread at Seijuurou's beck and call. Not like he could really complain about it; Nitori had his hands full pulling coffee, and Rin was handling the money while Seijuurou greeted, took orders and expedited them. It was busy for sure, the line reaching almost to the door, but it was organized.

Everyone had a place and knew what to do. It seemed natural to the brunette that he was delegated to the job that would get him most familiar with everything in the store the fastest. He blundered a few times, resulting in several disgruntled huffs from customers on a time crunch; but overall, he did well. _Not bad for a first day,_ Sei thought to himself. The smell of coffee and sweets filled the air while the chatter of people swelled and ebbed as people came in and left. As chaotic as it was behind the counters, the sight in front of Makoto was... _nice._

Everyone was settled, comfortable. There wasn't anyone shouting or screaming save for the occasional cry of a small child who wasn't being doted upon enough. Other than that, there was noise, sure, but nothing overwhelming. It was warm; the large windows let in plenty of sunlight which kept the atmosphere bright and cheery. Makoto wouldn't mind working there in the long run at all. It was definitely better than what his previous job had offered. Though they were clearly understaffed during peak hours, everyone seemed at home and at ease here. He could definitely get used to it. 

Sei kept glancing over at Makoto, assessing his performance. He didn't do horribly. Made a few mistakes here and there, but he was pleasant to everyone who came through the doors, including the difficult ones. He made small talk with the ones waiting in line when he could and looked good in those whites. He was definitely going to be popular with the lady guests with his demeanor, gentle voice and stupidly cute smile. _Definite good choice, Sei, business is gonna be better from now on._

Rome was not built in a day, and he still had the challenge of teaching Makoto how to read French. To be honest, Sei wasn't sure he was up to the task. His own grasp of the language had pretty much boiled itself down to the bare necessities when it came to baking bread. Pastries were a different thing all together, and he was sure there were going to be things he didn't understand himself. _Well, you're the idiot who said he'd help. So you're stuck now._

The rush hour petered out, and there were only a few patrons left as everyone left for their daily tasks. Makoto found himself at the back station again, staring at the accursed scribbles on the laundry list of things to do. No matter how hard he squinted and tried to sound the words out, it was nothing but gibberish to him. He sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair. At least this time, he was going to get some help deciphering it.

"Hmm.... Uh... yeah, about that," Seijuurou said, scratching his head while squinting at the list in his hand. "I have no idea what this says. I just copied what Sousuke used to make and then called it a day," he admitted sheepishly.

"You're kidding, right?" Makoto asked, flabbergasted.

"Nope," the redhead reaffirmed. "I have no idea what any of that says, so how about we just make something up then?"

"M-make something up?" Makoto repeated, his voice cracking a bit at the end of the question. He was confident in his ability to improvise, sure; but to completely come up with something on the fly was out of the question. Hell, he didn't even know everything the kitchen had to offer yet.

"Sure," Seijuurou continued nonchalantly, as he made his way over to a shelf with several heavy books in them. "Come on, we've got lots of planning to do," he said, arms filled with books and motioning towards an empty corner of the dining room.

Makoto wasn't sure if he was supposed to be relieved or absolutely terrified at the proposition.


	4. Tart

Makoto decided that there would need to be heavy drinking later that night in order to nurse how badly his head hurt. It felt like they had been staring at the same things for _hours_. It seemed like every time he came up with something _he_ thought might work, Seijuurou would promptly shut it down with a comment such as "not in season" or "there isn't a market for that here." Eventually Makoto resorted to simply planting his face into the nearest open book and claiming defeat. There was no pleasing this man, and he was well on his way to _not_ being hired at the bakery anymore.

The brunette could feel the onset of a migraine kick in; and he leaned back in his chair, breathing deeply and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't know if we're going to get anywhere at this rate," he mumbled to himself. "I have no idea what you're looking for."

Seijuurou sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to have any of that negativity now, Tachibana. Focus," he demanded, grabbing the nearest book and flipping through the pages. Everything just seemed, not right for his shop. Everything just seemed oversized and not _fresh_. It had been done before. He had seen all in one shape or another from other stores, some just across the street. What he _needed_ was a creative genius. What he _had_ was an overly eager young man who had no formal training and all the potential in the world.

"I don't even know what to focus on," Makoto admitted. "At this rate, you're better off just putting condensed milk on a baguette and calling it a day rather than coming up with something new," he pouted, lazily flipping through the pages of an old cookbook. "Ooh...this looks like fun to make..." he mumbled to himself, suddenly entranced by something in the yellowing pages.

Sei quirked his eyebrow and watched his expression change from desperation into something akin to inspiration. It was quite endearing to witness, really, the way his green eyes literally lit up and his brows furrowed slightly with determination while he jotted things down with vigor. Seijuurou waited patiently for him to finish. Whatever it was, his interest had definitely been piqued. It was all a matter of when Makoto would decide it would be okay to share with the class.

Six minutes and thirty-four seconds. It took him almost seven minutes to finish writing and mumbling all to himself. When he finally finished, he held up the notebook he had been writing in and grinned proudly at his creation. There was a crude drawing of something, and he honestly couldn't even begin to make it out.

"So, care to explain to me what this is?" he asked. Quite frankly, Seijuurou was skeptical. He could only hope that Makoto's actual baking capabilities would be better than his drawing skills.

"So, basically. et Frambois, right?" Makoto started. "Your bakery, it means 'and raspberries', right?"

"I thought you didn't know French."

"I know, Bonjure, Frachies, Croissant, Baguette and Frambois well enough," Makoto defended. "And Merci. You really can't call that 'knowing' French, now can you?"

"No, I guess not."

"Anyways. So, I noticed that for that shop name, you only have macarons in that flavor. And even then they're paired with anise. So, what if you had something else with raspberries and pair it with something that uhm... uh... How do I say this..."

"Something more to a Japanese palette?" Seijuurou suggested. He knew full well some things sold better than others. That didn't stop him from wanting to experiment with what was _customary_ in a patissiere. Well, not like he actually had the skill set to do that. Quite frankly, he never really understood how pastry chefs did it. Everything was so exact it was almost like pulling teeth.

"Uhm... yeah. Something like that. So I figured, what if we made a soft biscuit with matcha in it, and then reinforce it with some matcha mousse or whipped cream of some sort. But we need something to balance that out so I figured a raspberry jam or a coulis of some sort. But I guess it'd have to be stabilized, unless you wanted it on the side... But yeah, to counteract that sweetness with some raspberry and mix that with bitter chocolate and then you'd have something that you can put in your display case that looks nice and tastes good and no other place would have."

Makoto spoke so fast it was hard to keep up with the terms he was spewing left and right. Sei had a bit of a grasp of what was going on, but a good majority of it definitely left him in the dark, to say the least.

"Okay, about that looks nice part..." Sei finally said after taking a moment to digest everything that just happened.

"Yeah! It'll look great! See? This is where the biscuit is going to hold all of the sweet fillings and we'll put something crunchy on the outside, like meringue dots or something," the brunette explained, pointing to various scribbles on the page.

"Your drawing isn't really telling me a whole lot," he deadpanned. "Please tell me your actual baking skills are a little bit better?"

Seijuurou immediately regretted his words when he saw all the joy drain out of Makoto's face. _Go ahead, fuck up more. See where that gets you with your new recruits. Good job, Sei. Good fucking job._

"I didn't mean it like that..." he started but was cut off by a mug being set down with quite a bit of gusto. He looked up to see an unimpressed Nitori with a tray in one hand and in his other hand, another mug of coffee.

"You guys missed lunch. I made you some food," he deadpanned, almost slamming the coffee down in front of Makoto, making him jump slightly. "Boss, you keep on neglecting yourself and your employees like this and I'm filing a lawsuit against you. Don't think I won't."

Sei let out a nervous laugh, and ran his hand through his hair. "I uh... didn't notice how late it got..." he admitted.

"Right, late enough that you both haven't eaten anything all day and now you're picking on the new guy again. You're _cruel_." Nitori put extra emphasis on the last word, driving it right into Sei's guilty conscience. "We're closing in an hour. It's already six."

Six. Seijuurou vaguely remembered sitting Makoto down at around two. He honestly hadn't thought that much time had passed since they started flipping through all the books. _Would have probably taken you less time if you actually just sat him down and taught him French._

"Wait, it's six, and you're giving me coffee?" Sei raised a skeptical eyebrow at Nitori.

The silver haired boy shrugged slightly and placed a plate of sandwiches on the table between the two of them. "Just something to wash down your food," he said.

"His stomach's been grumbling for the past hour and a half, if you haven't noticed," Rin called from the register. "You're not very good at being aware of your surroundings, are you?"

Sei let out a groan and rubbed his temples. Honestly, he wondered why he kept the two of them around sometimes. He was going to definitely need several stiff drinks by the time he got home to drown out the embarrassment he was feeling at that moment.

"Uh... boss? You okay?" Makoto's voice cut through his building headache, and Seijuurou cracked an eye open to look at the young man in front of him.

"Ugh, yeah. I'll survive. They've called me worse things before," he joked, forcibly changing the mood as quickly as possible. He had already messed with Makoto more than he should have today. Any more and he was sure his newest employee would run out the door in tears, and that would be another interviewing process he'd have to go through. Seijuurou did not want anymore of that for a long while.

He reached for a sandwich and took a generous bite from it. The redhead picked up the notebook with all of Makoto's scribbles, and he scrutinized the notes as he ate. In all honesty, they had the ingredients, save for the matcha, in house. It wouldn't actually cost a whole lot to make. As much as he hated being wrong, Makoto was actually right with noting that they were rather lacking in raspberry flavored anything. If it weren't for his horrendous drawing, Sei would have given Makoto the "ok" for it and told him to start experimenting tomorrow.

However, the design was something left to be desired to say the least. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his new hire had basically mirrored him; sandwich in one hand and book in another. He was slightly squinting at the words in the book. _Probably wears glasses at home. Cute,_ Sei noted before he went back to the drawing at hand.

It'd need some work. Then again, a lot of things about Makoto needed work; but the way his eyes lit up when he came up with something was endearing, to say the least. Seijuurou wanted to spark that in him again, find the trigger that would set him off like that. He had potential. The flavor combinations scribbled in the margins were proof of that. Everything there followed solid flavor profiling theories, even though he was sure there was no culinary training in his past. He definitely wanted this...whatever it was, in his display case; but first, he needed to be sure Makoto's skills were refined enough for it.

Having him working on perfecting those "cupcakes" would be a good start. They were different and sold quite well earlier. Seijuurou wanted to venture into making more of them and making them better than what they were already. It would be the perfect test for his upcoming weeks.

"So, tomorrow," the redhead started after a moment of relative silent eating. He took a deep drink of his coffee before he continued, "Same time?"

"Huh?" Makoto looked up from his book and blinked several times, confusion apparent in his face.

"Can you get here at the same time?"

"Y-yes! Of course!"

His enthusiasm really was infectious. Sei couldn't help but grin at the reaction.

"Great, so, basically I want you to do everything you did today. After we're done with everything for the lunch rush, I want you to go through and make a list of anything and everything you need for the rest of the week so I can get either Rin or Nitori to go and get you supplies."

"Supplies?"

"Uh huh. I want you to work on those cupcakes you made earlier today."

"W-were they not good enough?" There was a hint of worry in the question, and Sei had to stop himself from ruffling Makoto's hair to comfort him.

"Nah, they were just fine. I want to see what else you can do, though. They weren't what I was expecting, so after the rush hours, I want to work with you and see what we can improve. That way they can sell even better. After we perfect that, we'll see about working on making this to put in the case," Sei explained and gestured to the pastry in the notebook. "Think you're up for the challenge?" he asked, cracking a sly grin.

"That's why you hired me, right?" Makoto countered, and Sei let out a barking laugh.

_Yes, that's exactly why you were hired. Good answer. Good answer indeed._

He was going to enjoy working with Makoto, that much was a guarantee.

"Oye! Store's closing in half an hour. Get off your lazy asses and help us close down!" Rin called from the back of the kitchen.

"Yes, mom," Seijuurou teased, getting out of his chair. "Come on, I'll show you how to close up."

"Yes, sir!" Makoto saluted mockingly and followed.


	5. Sucre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy fluffington fluff feels.

_Alright Tachibana, how much aspirin and whiskey will I need to have tonight?_ Seijuurou thought to himself as he unlocked the back door to his shop at the bright and early hour of three-thirty. _No more mental breakdowns after your first three or four days, now y'hear?_

If Seijuurou was great at anything outside of baking, it was drinking in excessive amounts in order to block out the pain in his feet from standing all day and popping more aspirin pills than any addict he's ever seen. People had always told him that it took a special kind of insane to work in the cooking field. Long hours, always on your feet, a neverending list of things to make before the shop opened and not enough space to do it in. Opening a place of his own had always been a dream, but the fact that the store was struggling a bit frustrated him to no end. He only prayed Tachibana would be able to pull in some more business.

_Tachibana, good God he's too cute for his own good. Wonder if there's an MOF for that..._ Seijuurou thought to himself as the fluorescent lights in the back kitchen flickered to life. The past few days, he had learned more about the easily flustered brunette and his abilities in the kitchen. One thing was for sure, he _was_ talented enough to know the basics and at least have enough things in the display case to make it look a little less barren. He was no Hidemi Sugino, but Sei believed Makoto had the skill to be at that level.

He still had half an hour or so before Makoto would be there. By now, the brunette had learned the ins and outs of the kitchen pretty well for being there only four days. The two of them had tinkered on the flavors of the "cup cakes" so much after the shop closed that Seijuurou had gone home in what could only be called a sugar coma the past few nights. _I swear to God, if I have to taste another flavor combination that involves almonds or hazelnuts I'm going to vomit. Or need a salt lick ordered._ Still, it was endearing how much effort Makoto was putting into perfecting all of this. Seijuurou had noticed a slow rise in customers as well, a good number of them being teenage girls giggling about how cute the staff was.

The clock ticked away, and Seijuurou needed to get to work; the bread wasn't going to bake itself. Changing into his whites, he took the time to enjoy the quiet of being in the bakery by himself for a little bit before things got lively with the rest of his staff in there. As soon as everyone else arrived, Seijuurou knew he would start to feel the dull throb of a headache forming from the amount of noise everyone made.

There was a sort of wonderful magic that came with making bread. The starter that he lovingly tended to slept in the basement, fermenting, growing, living and creating the base for his bread. He loved the sour, yeasty smell of the starter as he opened the container holding it and prodded the spongy mass. Siejuurou put several scoops of high gluten flour and a good handful of salt into a mixing bowl that came up to about his thighs. He then heaved the bowl into the mixer for a quick beating before adding the starter and water. The rest of what happened was nothing short of magic.

From a heaping pile of flour and raw ingredients, a dough formed; and Seijuurou felt the familiar contentment that always washed over him as he slowly added water to the dough, letting the machine work everything into a smooth, stretchy mass of dough. He had done this so many times, it was an almost autopilot routine for him. It was seven minutes and twelve seconds in the mixer before the mixing cauldron was dragged to the large metal table in the middle of the kitchen and dumped there for kneading. By the time the slightly warm dough was on the table, Makoto was walking through the back door and heading towards the back to hang up his belongings and change into his whites.

"Mornin', Mako," Seijuurou grunted, digging the heel of his palm into the dough, turning it slightly and lifting a corner before pushing the mass back down against the table. Every now and then, the redhead would fling a handful of flour across the top when the dough became too sticky before going back into the rhythm of kneading.

"Good morning," the brunette replied, polite and as gentle as always with that smile of his which made it seem a lot brighter outside than it was at four in the morning.

"Ready for another day of experiments and flavor disappointments?" Seijuurou asked, feeling a warm burn spread across his upper arms from the exertion.

"Always," Makoto let out a soft chuckle as he put on the white jacket and started to button it up. "I was thinking about maybe using pistachios today."

"Do we have any of those in stock?"

"I uh... I don't know," Mako admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I didn't think that one through."

"Eh, happens to the best of us. Once, I told everyone I knew that I'd be making a new bread with nuts and fruits and then I forgot to check if we had any of those in stock. We didn't. I'm pretty sure that business that day tanked. At least we're still experimenting."

"Well, good to know that I'm not the only one out there."

"Expect to make mistakes. A lot of them. You're still learning the craft after all," Seijuurou reassured. "Trust me, you don't want to know how many starters I've accidentally killed over the years. I'm pretty sure I'm considered a serial murderer in the world of bread at this rate."

"Well, if the police come through the front door, then I'm not going to stop them," Mako teased, starting on his own laundry list of things to do.

Bread came easily to Sei, but once you started to add the mathematical exactness needed for pastry making into his hands, there was no guarantee that it would end well. There were layers upon layers of just ... _stuff_ that went into making an entremet. He was surprised at how much Mako was able to actually do on his own.

"Had breakfast before you got here?" the redhead asked, portioning out pieces to be rolled out for baguettes and boules. "Or did you forget like yesterday?"

"I ate," Maoto grumbled, fumbling a bit with the stove as he began to heat up several pots with various liquids. "Did you?"

"Of course I did! You've gotta have a healthy meal to start your day!" Seijuurou laughed. It was partially true, as long as you counted a left over chocolate croissant and a cup of coffee spiked with copious amounts of Irish Cream to be a healthy breakfast. "So, doing anything after getting home from work? Chasing after a few pretty girls here and there?" he teased.

"If the pretty girl was named sleep, then yes, I definitely chased that one," Makoto said, stifling a yawn while stirring one of the pots. From where he was, Sei could smell the sugar and fruit bubbling away.

"Aww, poor baby's sleepy?"

"Only a little," Makoto admitted, ignoring the slight bit of pink that was spreading across his cheeks. As much as he wanted to passed it off as being warm from standing over the stove, he knew better than that. Seijuurou teased everyone who worked at his bakery, whether it be Rin, Nitori, him or even some of the regular customers. Still, Mako couldn't help but feel the _slightest_ bit special whenever Seijuurou teased him while the two were alone during the mornings. "I'll get used to it," he mumbled before busying himself with finding supplies and ingredients.

"You better, it's only going to get worse from there."

"He's telling the truth. Get out while you still can," Rin said at the door. "It's not too late, yet."

"Oh, shut up and get to doing something useful, like washing windows or something," Seijuurou snapped, lifting a large tray of bread ready to proof before going into the oven. "And how long have you been there?"

"Yes, mother," Rin retorted. "And I've been here since my shift started. What can you say about your day?"

"Just get to work," Sei grunted, lifting a tray of bread over his head and moving to put it on a rack to proof. Makoto couldn't help but sneak a glance or two at the way Sei's muscles strained against the sleeves of his uniform as he worked.

At this rate, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to want to leave the job.

~~

The day passed without any tears or panic attacks, which was a relief. It was business as usual, though there seemed to be a lack of customers; probably due to the rain that started to come down just as the lunch rush was supposed to begin. There were times when Sei noticed Makoto tearing up a bit while talking to a rather difficult customer, but other than that, the brunette was meshing much better than what Seijuurou had anticipated after the first day of work when he broke down sobbing. There was still a long way for him to go though, especially when it came to refining his technique. At least they had their time after the store closed for the night to work on that.

Or at least that's what he thought until their flavor experiments had to come to a screeching halt from the lack of ingredients.

"So you mean to tell me now, of all times, right before the weekend, that we're out of sugar and flour?" Makoto asked, eyebrow raised and arms crossed over his chest. "So, I'll just not bother coming in tomorrow, right?"

"Well, that's what I _think?_ " Sei admitted sheepishly. _I thought I told Rin to do inventory just the other day. Did I forget to order it? There's no way. We should have plenty. Rin's always good with inventory._ "I mean, we at least have some for bread?”

"And if there isn't?" The brunette was tapping his foot impatiently. Here, he was hoping to get at least _something_ approved so that the weekend would be good for business; and all of a sudden, there was nothing for him to work with.

"There's always morning runs to the market to tide us over for a little bit," Sei said with a shrug. "But I'm pretty sure we should have a good amount in the basement. I know we've got to have at least something spare down there."

"Wait, basement?" Makoto repeated and blinked several times. No one had told him about this basement before.

"Well, yeah, we've got to keep extra inventory and packaging stuff somewhere. It's also the right temp down there for my starter. And, well, extra space always helps. Where else do you think Nitori goes to cry when he gets upset with the morning brew?" he shrugged as he sauntered to a back corner where the door to the basement hid behind several aprons. "Don't tell him I told you that."

To say that the basement was poorly lit was a bit of an understatement. Makoto found himself relying mostly on the wall and the sound of Seijuurou ahead of him to get him down the steep steps in one piece. At the bottom of the stairs, Makoto found himself in a surreal, underground bomb shelter. Or at least, that was what it felt like to him.

"Oh yeah, let me introduce you to my baby," Seijuurou said, fumbling around a bit in the ever flickering fluorescent lighting. It must have been years since the last time they were changed.

"Ba...by?" Makoto repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Not... exactly the most welcoming of nurseries you've made down here..."

"Eh, she likes it that way. Anyways, if you ever are the last one to leave, please be sure to feed her some scraps and make sure she's kept alive."

"Wait. What?" Makoto's face immediately darkened at the last comment. "Is that... legal?" At this point, his hand was inching towards his phone in his pocket to call the police on his possibly insane boss.

"Well, I don't see why not," Sei shrugged and opened up a tub. "Ah, there she is. Beautiful isn't she? I think she's my longest living culture. Made her three weeks before I opened this place up."

The relief on Makoto's face must have been pretty obvious when he saw a heaping, bubbling mass of starter in the tub and not the slowly decaying body of some poor child Sei kidnapped. Sei let out a loud, booming laugh, slapping the brunette on the back. "Did you really think that I'd hide a body down here?" he teased.

"I never said anything like that!"

"Your face told me _everything,_ " Sei grinned, ruffling Makoto's hair. "Don't worry, at least you didn't burst into tears like Nitori did the first time I brought him down here and told him the same thing."

"Has... anyone ever thought about charging you with harassment of employees?" Makoto asked, still rather shaken by the whole ordeal, though it was reassuring to know that there _was_ a basement to run and hide to if he ever did need a place to cry.

Seijuurou shrugged, slapped the lid onto the container full of starter and shuffled around. "If they did, I haven't heard from the cops yet. Now, I think... the flour's around here in one of these corners..."

Makoto could have sworn he was watching Sei duck down to pick something up. The room was dimly lit for the most part, but he could still see everything in the room. The next time he did blink, he remembered the loud rumble of thunder and the world became pitch black around him.


	6. Crème

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto is flustered at everything.

On the list of things Makoto did not handle well, sudden darkness was one of them. He had watched Nagisa play so many horror games in the dark that it was hard for him to not be skittish when lights turned off without warning. His first reaction was to let out a surprised yelp and blink several times. Nothing. This was the worst case scenario in all the horror games he had seen. The next moment the lights would flicker on again, and there would be something terrifying standing in front of him poised and ready to kill him; or the lights would never come on at all and he would be murdered silently in the dark by his crazed and deranged boss who fed human remains to to his bread starter.

_"What's this absolutely amazing flavor in your bread?" The customers would say. "That's a family secret," Sei would reply with that grin of his, and they would all be charmed while being none the wiser. But Sei isn't that kind of person. I don't think he's that kind of person. I'd hope I got hired by a good person. I hope._

The scenarios in his mind became more and more fantastical the longer he was in the dark, from being flooded in the basement to being eaten alive by swarms of critters that lurked in between the walls. Makoto could hear a soft shuffling somewhere in the room; and at this point, he could only imagine the gurgling mass of starter slithering out of that tub and coming to suffocate him. Then, it would only be a matter of time before it broke loose from the basement and killed everyone else.

"S-S-Seijuurou?" he called out. Makoto hoped there would be some sort of reply. If not, he assumed the next thing he would have to do was barricade himself somehow and dig a tunnel out of the basement. The brunette felt the urge to reach out and feel out his surroundings a bit better. He resisted the urge though, in fear of accidentally knocking over something or touching something unpleasant and unwelcome. "You okay there?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. You?" Sei's voice was a reassuring sound to his ears to say the least. He hadn't been eaten yet. That and it didn't seem like he had any murderous intent in him. The dim lighting earlier had given him some idea of what was around, and he was pretty sure Sei was somewhere further into the room. Or, at least that was where he last remembered him.

"I-I-I c-could be better," he admitted, trying his best to keep the shaking out of his voice, though he failed miserably. _Anything to get me out of this room would be absolutely_ fantastic. "I-I'm guessing the st-storm outside d-d-did it." _Shit, it's storming outside. We're doomed for sure. Or at the very least, I am._

"Yeah, well, can't say a power outage was on my list of things I wanted to experience today. Just you watch though, by the time we get back upstairs, it'll all be back to normal," he joked.

Makoto prayed they would survive long enough to get back upstairs.

"Hang on, I think we have a flashlight or something like that down here..." Sei muttered, fumbling around. "Just stay right there. I'll come to you."

"I... Uhm... alright."

Makoto couldn't help but feel like there was still a soft shuffling sound coming from someone _or something_ other than the two of them. The logical part of him reasoned it was Seijuurou, though the paranoid side of him told him that the noises were too quiet to be the redhead. That and they sounded close. _Too close._

_All I wanted was some flour and sugar. Is that too much to ask for? I don't want to die. Please._

The brunette found himself holding his breath, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. The only thing that did was make him dizzy; and the sound grew louder and louder, either in real life or his head. He couldn't tell anymore.

There was a dull thud and a curse from Sei somewhere in the room; and the only thing Makoto could think of was his boss was now dead, and he was going to be next. He briefly wondered what it would feel like to be smothered by the crushing weight of a sentient mass of dough before he felt something, or someone, brush across his arm.

Makoto screeched and jumped backwards, tripping over something in the process and falling down rather hard. There wasn't much else he remembered other than a string of curses that followed after he fell, and then the rest of his senses became dark as well.

~~

Of course the moment the lights turn back on, Seijuurou would find his newest employee, sprawled on the floor and knocked out. It didn't seem like Makoto dealt particularly well with sudden situations. Or at least situations that looked like they came out of a horror movie. _That kinda sucks. Woulda loved to take him out to see a good thriller sometime._

The redhead could have sworn the power had been out for less than five minutes. It couldn't have been longer than that. He did notice how uncomfortable Makoto was from the way the younger man's voice shook when he talked. It only made him want to reassure him that it would be all right in the end. They never had a flashlight in the basement. It had all been a lie to try to keep Makoto's wits about him. Though, it didn't seem to do much seeing as the moment he got close enough to reach out, the brunette literally leaped across the room and clocked himself in the head against some shelving.

Seijuurou heaved a sigh and looked at the mess of knocked over boxes and raw ingredients all over his floor and then at Makoto. Rin was going to have a fit the next time he'd come down there. _He'll have to deal. It's not like it hasn't looked worse down here._

"Well, at least you're still breathing, that's a good sign," he muttered when he noticed the soft rise and fall of Makoto's chest. "Won't have to call an ambulance then..."

It was at that moment, Sei realized the dilemma he was in. He had no idea how to get back to Tachibana's place. As useful as GPS were, his phone had died earlier in the day; and of course of all days he would forget his charger. "Today's been an absolutely stellar day with you guys," he muttered and started to drag Makoto up. "Jesus fucking Christ, you're fucking dense as wet cement," he commented as he worked his way slowly up the stairs. _Well, at least I know he works out._

~~

There were three things Makoto noticed when he finally came to; the first being the splitting pain in his head. With a quick brush of his fingers through his hair where the epicenter of pain was, Makoto found a good sized knot that supplied his head with a not-so delightful pounding sensation throughout his skull. The second thing he noticed was the sudden change in his interior decorating. The last time he checked his walls were definitely not a chestnut brown with blue and beige trim, unless Rei had decided to break in and redecorate everything without him knowing.

The final thing he noticed was his boss, wearing sweats and a tank top, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, standing at the door of the bathroom. Quite frankly, Makoto considered passing out again to be an option to avoid any more embarrassment when he realized that he was indeed in the home of his boss and very much sleeping in his bed.

"I... I can explain..." Makoto started, sitting up straight and wincing right away at the sudden movement. The brunette was eternally grateful Seijuurou's room had dim lighting to help hide the tremendous blush spreading through his face at that moment. What a glorious sight his arms and collarbones were.

"I'm sure you can," Sei called from the bathroom, spitting out toothpaste and rinsing his mouth. "Though I'm not quite sure what you need to explain."

"I... Uhm... I..."

"Need anything? Aspirin? Heating pad? Cold water? Some alcohol? Though I'm not sure if I've got any of that left. Definitely think I went through at least a fifth of whiskey before you woke up. And don't bother apologizing. You're cleaning up that basement tomorrow morning when we get back there. So, do you need some water?"

"Yes. And about three trucks worth of painkillers," Makoto grimaced as he tried to poke at the hard lump on his head.

"Did a number on yourself back there. I'm surprised you didn't start bleedin' all over the floor," Sei joked as he brought back a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin. "Though You did get a few bruises on your ribs and your back."

Makoto was glad Seijuurou had decided to drop that last bit of information on him _after_ he had taken the medicine. If not, he was pretty sure his boss would be covered with a wonderful film of spit and water over his freshly showered body. "Wait, what, you checked?"

"Well, I had to make sure you were alright. I didn't want you to have anything broken after all."

 _Oh my god, I'm so glad I've been going to the gym._ "I'm assuming that everything's alright then since I'm not in the hospital."

"Should be," Sei said with a shrug and flopped unceremoniously onto the other side of the bed, much to Makoto's discomfort. "Though I'd say check it out the next time you get a chance."

"Well, if I get any symptoms of a concussion, do I get worker's comp?" Mako asked sarcastically.

"Not a chance," Seijuurou grunted, and Mako had to hold back a chuckle at the deadpan half-serious remark.

Makoto found himself staring at Seijuurou and at how absolutely _casual_ he was about everything around him. Here he was with his boss of about a week now, flopped, face first in bed and looking quite attractive with his just washed, slightly damp mop of red hair. He looked so relaxed with his hair down and without the copious amounts of gel he'd have in it while at work. It looked so... _soft._

Perhaps it was a side effect of the fall he had taken earlier, but Makoto had no recollection of his fingers actually going into that gloriously soft mass of red hair.

"Are you normally so touchy feely with all your bosses like that?" Sei teased, glancing up at the brunette and relishing in the blush that colored Makoto's face. "Or am I just that handsome."

"I... It... It's just." the brunette stuttered.

"It's just what? Nah, don't stop. Feels nice. Helps the headache some, just keep doing what you're doing." Seijuurou yawned and adjusted himself to be a bit closer to the younger man so Makoto didn't have reach so far to get to his head.

"I uh... Uhm... Okay." Mako went back to gently stroking the short, silken strands.

"You don't have to turn off the light if you're afraid of the dark," Sei mumbled, his eyes drooping a bit. "I'm gonna be going to sleep.”

"Wait, you're sleeping here?" Mako asked, stopping his stroking for a moment until a very sleepy, slightly intoxicated Seijuurou nuzzled the side of his shoulder and urged him to continue.

"Well, it's my place and I sure as hell am not sleeping on the couch tonight," He grumbled. "Too tired, too drunk. Sleep good. We can discuss missing ingredients and other things tomorrow. It's late, need to wake up in a few hours."

"I... Alright."

"Keep the light on. Need to make sure you're sleeping and not in a coma in the middle of the night."

Makoto didn't have much of a response to that, and that was probably for the best since soft snores came from the redhead which prompted him to slowly drift off to sleep as well all the while stroking soft, luscious strands of fire.


End file.
